Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA Makes New $4.83 Million Investment in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 8,256 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,834,000. Meta Platforms accounts for 4.1% of Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of META. AMF Tjanstepension AB increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 32.5% in the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 457,092 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $261,680,000 after acquiring an additional 112,047 shares during the period. Creative Planning increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 716,847 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $410,352,000 after acquiring an additional 14,754 shares during the period. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at about $343,000. Marshall Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 12.6% during the 3rd quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC now owns 5,478 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,136,000 after buying an additional 615 shares during the period. Finally, Secure Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC now owns 18,366 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,513,000 after buying an additional 492 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,668 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $721.69, for a total value of $14,194,198.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 902 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $713.32, for a total transaction of $643,414.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 27,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,607,740.16. This represents a 3.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 793,070 shares of company stock valued at $504,185,108 over the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on META. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $750.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $800.00 target price (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Benchmark raised shares of Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $717.90.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META opened at $736.67 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.87 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.80, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.20. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $638.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $583.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve month high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $5.33 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.525 dividend. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.29%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.36%.

About Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms, Inc engages in the development of products that enable people to connect and share with friends and family through mobile devices, personal computers, virtual reality headsets, and wearables worldwide. It operates in two segments, Family of Apps and Reality Labs. The Family of Apps segment offers Facebook, which enables people to share, discuss, discover, and connect with interests; Instagram, a community for sharing photos, videos, and private messages, as well as feed, stories, reels, video, live, and shops; Messenger, a messaging application for people to connect with friends, family, communities, and businesses across platforms and devices through text, audio, and video calls; and WhatsApp, a messaging application that is used by people and businesses to communicate and transact privately.